Shareable napping capsules torn down after just one week in Shanghai for breaking fire code

It appears as though the Chinese startup offering shareable sleeping pods to tired workers won’t even outlast the one offering shareable umbrellas to the general public.Nap capsule company, Xiangshui Space, started up recently in Beijing before expanding to Shanghai (and Chengdu) last week. Targeted at white-collar workers, the startup offers cozy capsules where people can pay by app to take a short nap to recharge their batteries before heading back to the grind.In Shanghai, the tiny spaces were open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., charging 10 yuan for a 30-minute stay during peak napping hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6 yuan per half-hour outside those hours.While this idea may seem like another semi-logical extension of China’s sharing economy explosion, it has not found favor with the local fire authority in Shanghai who conducted an inspection of one of the company’s facilities yesterday and found that the capsules did not meet fire requirements for hotels, ordering their removal.Xiangshu had three locations in Pudong, Jing’an and Xuhui. They have all been closed down and some of the capsules are already being removed.Meanwhile, the Xiangshui app notifies users that a “system update” is in progress and services have been suspended.

It’s not clear how long the startup’s services will be suspended or if they will ever actually resume operations. The capsules have also been shut down in Beijing.“We are not a hotel. It’s more like shared bikes, Ye Min, deputy business director of Beijing Xiangshui Technology, toldShanghai Daily, failing to add whether his company had procured the proper fire safety licenses before starting up business.